Two hundred twelve Italian patients with genetic hemochromatosis (181 men, mean age 50 +/- 11 yr; and 31 women, mean age 49 +/- 10 yr) were followed for a median period of 44 mo (range = 3 to 218 mo). Alcohol abuse was present in 31 subjects (15%), and chronic HBV and HCV infection were seen in 19 (9%) and 35 (24%) of 145 cases tested, respectively. Twenty-four patients (11%) had concomitant beta-thalassemia trait. Liver biopsy revealed cirrhosis in 146 and a noncirrhotic pattern in the other 66. Perls' stain was degree III in 37 patients and IV in 171 patients. One hundred eighty-five patients underwent weekly venesection, and iron depletion was achieved in 122 cases after total iron removal of 3 to 41 gm. Death occurred in 44 patients after 3 to 198 mo and was due to hepatocellular carcinoma in 20 cases, liver failure in 10, extrahepatic cancer in six, heart failure in three and hemochromatosis unrelated causes in five. Cancer has developed in seven other patients still alive (hepatocellular in five and extrahepatic in two). No deaths were observed among noncirrhotic patients; cumulative survival rates in cirrhotic patients were 85%, 75%, 60% and 47% at 3, 5, 8 and 10 yr, respectively. Univariate analysis in the 146 cirrhotic patients showed that age greater than 60 yr, alcohol abuse, cardiomyopathy, skin pigmentation, portal hypertension, hypoalbuminemia, hypergammaglobulinemia and Child class B or C had significant negative prognostic value. At multivariate analysis, only alcohol abuse, gamma-globulins greater than 2.0 gm/dl and Child class B or C maintained their negative prognostic values (p less than 0.01, hazard ratio 2.7; p less than 0.001, hazard ratio 2.8; and p less than 0.001, hazard ratio 4.3, respectively).

A substantial proportion of patients does not arrive at the ED in a suitable time for reperfusion therapy. Patients using the EMS have a shorter arrival delay. Approximately half of the patients with stroke are sufficiently aware of the urgency of this clinical condition to activate the emergency telephone system.

BackgroundSeveral lines of evidence support the involvement of the lectin pathway of complement (LP) in the pathogenesis of acute ischemic stroke. The aim of this multicenter observational study was to assess the prognostic value of different circulating LP initiators in acute stroke.MethodsPlasma levels of the LP initiators ficolin-1, -2, and -3 and mannose-binding lectin (MBL) were measured in 80 stroke patients at 6 h only and in 85 patients at 48 h and later. Sixty-one age- and sex-matched healthy individuals served as controls. Stroke severity was measured on admission using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). The outcome was measured at 90 days by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS).ResultsFicolin-1 was decreased in patients compared with controls measured at 6 h (median 0.13 vs 0.33 μg/ml, respectively, p < 0.0001). At 48 h, ficolin-1 was significantly higher (0.45 μg/ml, p < 0.0001) compared to the 6 h samples and to controls. Likewise, ficolin-2 was decreased at 6 h (2.70 vs 4.40 μg/ml, p < 0.0001) but not at 48 h. Ficolin-3 was decreased both at 6 and 48 h (17.3 and 18.23 vs 21.5 μg/ml, p < 0.001 and <0.05, respectively). For MBL no difference was detected between patients and controls or within patients at the different time points. In multivariate analysis, early ficolin-1 was independently associated with unfavorable mRS outcome (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.21, confidence interval (CI) 95 % 1.11–4.39, p = 0.023). Early ficolin-1 improved the discriminating ability of an outcome model including NIHSS and age (area under the curve (AUC) 0.95, CI 95 % 0.90–0.99, p = 0.0001).ConclusionsThe ficolins are consumed within 6 h after stroke implicating activation of the LP. Early ficolin-1 is selectively related to 3-month unfavorable outcome.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12974-016-0481-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This paper presents an 'optimal' procedure for the use of the 'sets' method, a system proposed for surveillance of congenital malformations. Comparisons over a number of examples shows that the given procedure represents a clear improvement over the one originally proposed, and, in some conditions, is more efficient than the cusum scheme.

Background: Thrombolysis with rt-PA is the only approved pharmacological therapy for acute ischemic stroke presently administrable in a 3-hour window (very recently extended to 4.5 h). After this time, the choice is limited to endovascular treatment and antiplatelet drugs, mainly aspirin (ASA), the efficacy of which in the acute phase of stroke has poorly been evaluated. We compared the efficacy of tirofiban, a GP-IIb/IIIa inhibitor, and ASA, with both drugs being administered within 6 h. Methods: 150 patients were randomly assigned to treatment with tirofiban or ASA, both given for 3 days in a double-blind regimen. Major inclusion criteria were stroke onset within 6 h and a baseline National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 5–25. Outcome variables were the proportion of patients with a NIHSS score reduction of ≧4 points after 72 h, and the proportion of patients with an mRS score of 0–1 at 3 months. Results: The trial, originally planned to enroll 300 patients, was halted after enrollment of 150 patients at interim analysis due to the lack of a trend difference between the 2 treatment groups. Neurological improvement at 72 h was observed in 56% of the patients in each group. At the 3-month follow-up, minimal or absent disability was seen in 45% of the patients in the tirofiban group and 53% in the ASA group; these differences were not statistically significant. Three-month mortality was the same in both groups (10.6%); the rates of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage were 1% (tirofiban) and 4% (ASA). Conclusion: In spite of the fact that the null hypothesis was not supported by our data, we found results supporting the safety (and potential efficacy) of ASA and tirofiban when used in the first hours of acute ischemic stroke. However, this needs to be confirmed by further studies.